This last photo is our current dining

And I prefer the darker one because it’s more solid and calm. All about preferences. :)

Have you looked at some off whites for paint? i like SW Zurich White for example. ever so slightly gray..

When we built our house the architect strongly urged us to use light flooring since our home is in a wooded setting. We took his advice and used natural ( no stain) white ash. He was absolutely correct. It has kept our house from feeling dark. We still love our floors 32 years later. In addition, the color is classic and works with everything.

The colors that you have chosen seem too dark and too trendy. I would go with something much lighter and classic. You also mentioned that your home is dark. This would cause me to steer clear of blues and grays.

Lighter

Go lighter, thats the trend right now. Gray is really fading in terms of popularity.

Lighter ... definitely the trend now ( not that it matters ) & easier to live with.

Ashley Hancock-Riggs , as an example this is one of our most popular picture/floors right now. Its just a very light whitewash over White Oak.

Wide Plank White Oak Wood Floor in Nashville TN · More Info

Lighter. I actually like the color that Oak & Broad just posted better than the two you have picked.

If you must have gray, go as light as possible. The lack of natural light in your home will darken the floor by several steps. The lighter floor will turn darker than the darker floor simply because you don't have a lot of light.

And do yourself a favour and PRIME your walls with white primer. Do that before you install the flooring. This way you will have a true sense of the colour of EVERYTHING. Right now you are seeing greige in the flooring because you have a yellow based wall colour. Before you pick a paint colour, you need to rid yourself of the existing colour.

Once the existing colour is gone and the floors have been installed, you can then make paint swatches (on artists' board using tester sized tins of paint). You then MOVE the artists boards (with the paint colour on them) around your home. You leave them in each room to view the 5 times of day (early morning, mid-morning, afternoon, evening, night).

You will quickly find out which sample board 'fails' because of the colours it will turn in different lighting situations. And if you are thinking of changing your lighting, please do it BEFORE you install the wood and before you paint the walls.

The darker you go will show more on the floor such as dust,dirt scratches etc. but it does give it a "warmer look" in the room.

I agree! There is another thread on Houzz right now with somebody asking about refinishing their entire floor due to it being too dark and showing every bit of dirt. The homeowner is getting some pretty brutal responses.

Lol .... due to water damage we had to have our previously light toned hardwood replaced. we chose a medium toned walnut ... they’re beautiful but I have to admit they require more maintenance, they show every little thing that the lighter floors didn’t.

I prefer the darker because it's more of a solid color and not so stripper. I redid my floors in a similar darker look last summer. I used Coretec LVP (Luxury Vinyl Planks) that are 100% waterproof and scratch- redid tent and I love the look.

Most of the rooms in my house are a very off-white/ cream color and it looks fantastic with the floors. Also I was surprised that my darker floors don't show dust like I was afraid. I sweep it twice a week with a cordless Dyson vacuum and it always looks clean, plus dirt and footprints don't show up much on the darker color.

Good luck!

K Laurence , can you post some of the Walnut pictures?

Here are more. The kitchen has dark cabinets, so I went with a lighter floor in there and am pleased with it. I think the dark floors and cabinets together would have been too dark.